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NWN1 uses Gamespy for it's matchmaking or what? I didn't realize that there was some sort of hub server for it... isn't it mostly just IP connections? Gamespy provides a server browser in game?

I used to use Gamespy to play any online game. It was basically what people use Steam for now, only way better because you didn't have to launch games through it, but you could optionally use it as a server browser, friend organizer thing.

Grim and saddening stuff. We'll probably see a lot more of this soon too over the next year or so. I doubt GFWL will have as long a shelflife as Gamespy has had and it's clear that a lot of other services are only safe until they're sold (see OpenFeint on iOS for a recent example there).

Whilst we're fairly lucky that most Gamespy stuff on PC is legacy and I'm sure large amounts of slack will be picked up by communities because PC games, they've had a reasonable console presence up until recently and that's going to be interesting to see how that plays out and whether they'll try the closedown tactics there also.

Our rush to tie things to services isn't going to look quite so good in about five years from now, I'm sure.

NWN1 uses Gamespy for it's matchmaking or what? I didn't realize that there was some sort of hub server for it... isn't it mostly just IP connections? Gamespy provides a server browser in game?

I used to use Gamespy to play any online game. It was basically what people use Steam for now, only way better because you didn't have to launch games through it, but you could optionally use it as a server browser, friend organizer thing.

Gamespy hosted the master server for NWN. With the master server dead, you have to rely on the direct IP connection method.

As for using Gamespy back in the day I loved it prior to the whole Gamespy Arcade thing, which is when they started to bloat it up. When it was just a server browser(Gamespy3D) it was great. You set up each game/mod individually(bit of a hassle, but allowed for custom configs between mods), it was easy to tell which servers were full/empty based on how the server icon looked, it had a favorites list, it told you in plain wording what mods a server was running, had good filter options for the time, and it had an auto-retry function for full servers. It was everything you could want in a server browser. And then they had to screw it up by doing the Gamespy Arcade thing, which started requiring account logins, serving ads, and stuff like that. And it didn't work as well as plain old Gamespy3D, in my opinion.

In hindsight it's funny to think how much I despised Gamespy Arcade then, yet I love Steam today. But I guess that's just a sign of how things change over the years. Gamespy Arcade was ambitiious and ahead of its time, I suppose.

Gamespy hosted the master server for NWN. With the master server dead, you have to rely on the direct IP connection method.

As for using Gamespy back in the day I loved it prior to the whole Gamespy Arcade thing, which is when they started to bloat it up. When it was just a server browser(Gamespy3D) it was great. You set up each game/mod individually(bit of a hassle, but allowed for custom configs between mods), it was easy to tell which servers were full/empty based on how the server icon looked, it had a favorites list, it told you in plain wording what mods a server was running, had good filter options for the time, and it had an auto-retry function for full servers. It was everything you could want in a server browser. And then they had to screw it up by doing the Gamespy Arcade thing, which started requiring account logins, serving ads, and stuff like that. And it didn't work as well as plain old Gamespy3D, in my opinion.

In hindsight it's funny to think how much I despised Gamespy Arcade then, yet I love Steam today. But I guess that's just a sign of how things change over the years. Gamespy Arcade was ambitiious and ahead of its time, I suppose.

To be fair, I think one big problem was that Gamespy Arcade was a seperate program. So you had to boot that, THEN let it boot you into the game. Whereas Steam is directly integrated into the game.

Of course, that doesn't explain why people didn't burn EA at the stake for Battlelog...

Steam: Gundato
PSN: Gundato
If you want me on either service, I suggest PMing me here first to let me know who you are.

That depends hugely on the game, I'd think. As noted, anything with a direct IP system isn't going to have a problem. As other folks here have pointed out, anything with a functioning LAN play option can be played with Gameranger/Hamachi/etc. The issue is going to be the games that lack either of those options, and I'm sure that applies to a few of them.

It doesn't make me worried about steampowered games, because I doubt Steam will go bust on quite a loooong time, and it won't be sold as long as Gaben is still alive.
But as someone said, games wich connect via GFWL will see this happen, some years given.